Printers' Right Not to Speak

[paul-finkelman at utulsa.edu]

Are you suggesting that someone sues Kinkos because Kinkos printed off and bound a pamphlet that is actionable?  Or that you sue the acme printing company (or the typesetter that works there) if Acme is hired to print the defamatory book?   You would sue the publisher, not the printer, today, no?

Paul Finkelman

Quoting Douglas Laycock <DLaycock at mail.law.utexas.edu>:

>          Well, as always, a little knowledge is a dangerous
> thing.  Thanks 
> Paul.
> 
>          But the conundrum remains:  if the printer did
> understand what he 
> printed, he was held responsible for it.  Today's defamation
> plaintiffs 
> typically don't sue the printer; does anyone know if they
> could?
> 
> At 04:36 PM 5/20/2004 -0500, paul-finkelman at utulsa.edu wrote:
> >Doug Laycock's posting (below) on printers is not wholly
> correct.  There 
> >were many printers who were not publishers, even in the 17th
> and 18th 
> >century.  One defense to a libel charge in the 17th and 18th
> century was 
> >that the printer was "illiterate" and did not know what he
> published.  The 
> >typesetter would claim he was just setting type, not knowing
> the 
> >content.  This is done today, I suppose, when companies
> outsource 
> >"keyboarding" to Asia, where people key in words in English
> but don't 
> >speak English, or in the early 20th century when people like
> Joyce and DH 
> >Lawerence had books published in France that were set in
> English by 
> >non-English speaking typesetters.  Another defense was that
> hte printer 
> >did not read th article, but just typeset what came in under
> his door.  I 
> >discuss some of these issues in an introdution to the Brief
> Narrartive of 
> >the Tryal of John Peter Zenger, published by Brandywine Press
> (in paper) 
> >and by the Lawbook Exchange, in hardbound.  By the 19th
> century many 
> >papers were set b
> >y typesetters. The Liberator, a small antislavery paper had a
> publisher 
> >(Isaac Knapp), and editor (William Lloyd Garrison) and
> various 
> >typesetters, most famously the black author and activist,
> WIlliam C. Nell.
> >
> >
> >Paul Finkelman
> >Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
> >Univ. of Tulsa College of Law
> >2120 East 4th Place
> >Tulsa OK  74104-3189
> >
> >Phone: 918-631-3706
> >Fax:    918-631-2194
> >
> >
> >Quoting Douglas Laycock <DLaycock at mail.law.utexas.edu>:
> >
> > >          At common law, a printer was liable for any
> libelous
> > > material he
> > > printed.  I am not aware that that rule has been changed;
> does
> > > anyone
> > > know?  It would certainly be odd, and unfair, if it is
> his
> > > speech for
> > > liability purposes but not for purposes of his own
> > > conscience.
> > >
> > >          Well into the 19th century,
> printer/editor/publisher
> > > was all the
> > > same person at most newspapers.  The printer would start
> a
> > > newspaper, and
> > > create or select the content for the newspaper, and
> supplement
> > > his income
> > > by taking in printing jobs for others. William Lloyd
> Garrison
> > > set his own
> > > type at The Liberator.  It is a very long transition from
> that
> > > to think of
> > > the printer as a sort of common carrier.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Douglas Laycock
> > > University of Texas Law School
> > > 727 E. Dean Keeton St.
> > > Austin, TX  78705
> > >          512-232-1341 (voice)
> > >          512-471-6988 (fax)
> > >          dlaycock at mail.law.utexas.edu
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> 
> 
> 
> Douglas Laycock
> University of Texas Law School
> 727 E. Dean Keeton St.
> Austin, TX  78705
>          512-232-1341 (voice)
>          512-471-6988 (fax)
>          dlaycock at mail.law.utexas.edu
> 
> 



Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
Univ. of Tulsa College of Law
2120 East 4th Place
Tulsa OK  74104-3189

Phone: 918-631-3706
Fax:    918-631-2194